Safiya Amaya Ambani
Born 1981 Death 2003 Sabbat Defection 2010 Grew up in Northern California. Mother was British-French in ethnicity. Father was Gujarati Indian in ethnicity, by way of London. The couple moved to the U.S. shortly after marrying because of a business opportunity that Romesh had. Romesh Ambani is involved with mercantile trade/imports/exports.Their marriage went from bumpy to strained to flat out tense, with Safiya in the middle more often than not. Saf would often run off to escape the stifling household - choosing to get lost in the woods and stay there as much as possible rather than go home. When Saf was 8, her parents separated and began a bitter, 2 year long divorce battle. Eventually, her mother got the house and custody of Safiya, who in the meantime began acting out and getting into fights. Safiya was sent to a therapist who also helped her find martial arts to divert and channel her frustration at having no control over her situation. Following the divorce, Romesh moved back to England, Danielle stayed in California, and they continued to vie for Safiya's affection in a competitive manner. Safiya had an expanding interest in two things - martial arts and conservation. Safiya went to college (Stanford University, School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Systems for a degree in Geophysics). The summer between their junior and senior years, Safiya and Curtis traveled to Brazil to see the Amazon and simultaneously fell in love with the place while being enraged at the pillaging of its resources. After graduation, Safiya and Curtis went to Manaus and began making in-roads with more active and militant eco-warrior groups. (this was around 2003) Their activities caught the eye of a couple vampires with similar interests. Safiya was snatched up and embraced as part of a dual embrace with her broodmate, Clara Silva, by their sire, Erasmo "Mo" Medeiros. Meanwhile, his packmate Federica embraced Curtis Temple and the new young vampires went from a pair to a trio. Over the next year, at Mo and Feddie's advice, the trio sought out like-minded others and were brought together to form a pack by a newly arrived from Sao Paolo, Anna Fiore. The Pack quickly came together. For a total of 7 years, Safiya, in concert with her Pack, split their time between targeting people and corporations who were exploiting the rainforest and, when able, taking their shit, and partying hard. During that time, Safiya began her journey on the Path of Harmony, led by her sire. Safiya always had problems with how some of her less controlled, more cruel brethren behaved, but it was easy to distance herself from it. In Manaus, farther away from the more populated and violent crush of Rio or Sao Paolo, spending her time with people she put more faith in, and ignoring the less appealing parts of their existence, it was easy (most of the time) to forget the unnecessary slaughter and relished massacre off in Mexico City and the American Southwest. By the time the purge of the Path reached the outlying locations and became an issue, Safiya was firmly on the Path and believed that it had been instrumental in keeping her sanity during her transition into vampiric life. Her sire, broodemate, and her Gangrel packmates were all members of the path as well. When the purge of Harmony finally crept into Manaus, Safiya and her "twin sister", Clara (also the Pack Priest), were pretty staunchly determined to fight against abandoning their Paths. When their sire, Erasmo, came to speak and pressure them into the conversation... it wasn't well-received. The first night was bitten off words and angry voices punctuated by snarls. The second night started more of the same, but ended in claws and fangs. If Safiya wouldn't convert, then like the others, she would die. The fight was brutal. Clara, who was present for it, torn between loyalty to sire and loyalty to pack, couldn't bring herself to join in, but her allegiance shown through when she distracted Erasmo at a pivotal moment, allowing Safiya to stop a lethal blow from their sire and turn the battle in her favor. With Erasmo dead, there were few options left for Safiya. Dedicated to the Sabbat and to their cause in Manaus, the Pack, even Curtis, couldn't bring themselves to leave. Diego, a member of their pack, took the turn of events with some difficulty, attacking Safiya, but Anna and Curtis finished him off before he could do the same to her. Acting quickly, and with her Pack's careful assistance, a heartbroken Safiya moved some money around, shipped a couple of boxes to her mother's home in Northern California, and left on a ship with a small bag of belongings. She hopped ship to ship up the South and Central American coast and along California until she reached San Francisco where she turned herself in to the local Camarilla for judgement, along with Erasmo's favorite and hunting knife and a finger bone. Officially in Manaus, the story is that Safiya killed both Erasmo and Diego before fleeing the city to defect. Safiya doesn't know how the pack is doing as neither she nor they have tried to make contact. She doesn't know if Clara converted along with the others who follow the Path. She doesn't know if they took a stand and are now dead. Though, secretly she hopes that Clara has disguised their following as those of the Feral Heart while continuing to nurture her Harmonious nature. Since arriving in San Francisco and proving her defection legitimate, Saf has worked to be first in line to defend the city, first to volunteer for city assaults, and kept herself out of any politics within the city. Safiya has continued to try and make in-roads with local conservation efforts, continued to try and learn more about shifters and their "wyrm", and carefully tried to make connections within the city to do such. Category:Camarilla Category:Safiya Category:PC